On Bridgegate, a million-dollar whitewash: Editorial

Randy Mastro, who lead Gov. Christie's hired legal team, announced today that an internal investigation of Bridgegate has found the governor blameless.

(John Munson/The Star-Ledger)

Gov. Chris Christie, who retold his Bridge­gate story to ABC's Diane Sawyer tonight, has always said he had no role in the access lane closures at the George Washington Bridge in September, or knowledge of them at the time.

And this just in from his lawyers: “Governor Christie’s account of these events rings true.”

After interviewing 70 people, including the governor, Christie's hired legal team agreed this entire fiasco was the fault of Bridget Anne Kelly and David Wildstein — two people the lawyers didn't talk to.

Christie has already fired Kelly, who wrote the infamous quip, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” and Wildstein, her co-conspirator at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, has stepped down. So what more is there to do?

Christie’s lawyers suggested the governor’s office create a new position of ethics officer — appointed by Christie himself. After all, he’s already planted one of his loyalists as head of the State Ethics Commission, despite the conflict of interest.

But even though the governor may feel this wraps up the issue, there are still some lingering questions. Such as, what about David Samson?

The man Christie appointed to head the Port Authority — and has strongly backed throughout this scandal — was also named in the gleeful emails over the lane closures: “New York side gave Fort Lee back all three lanes this morning. We are appropriately going nuts. Samson helping us to retaliate,” Wildstein wrote.

Like Kelly and Wildstein, Samson refused to be interviewed for Christie’s internal investigation. Yet unlike all the other heads that have rolled in this scandal — including Kelly and Wildstein — he remains the chair of the Port Authority.

How could this be? Is Christie protecting him?

According to this report, Wildstein also says he told Christie about the Fort Lee traffic havoc at a Sept. 11 event, while the lane closures were going on. Christie hasn’t denied that. He simply says he doesn’t remember if he was told, and if so, that it was an unmemorable traffic issue.

Yet wouldn’t his memory have been jogged in the ensuing months, by reporters digging on this story? Not until January does the governor say he called together his top aides and advisers, “welling up with tears,” to express “shock at the revelations.”

Christie's lawyers also dismissed Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer's allegation that she was pressured by his aides to approve his favored real estate project, or else lose out on Hurricane Sandy aid, as "subjective perceptions." They're making her out to be crazy.

But while Christie’s lawyers profess to have “gotten to the truth,” here’s all this million-dollar report really tells us: They haven’t found evidence that he’s guilty.